I come to Deadspin to read up on wrestling and Survivor.

Brain flash.

I grew up 1.5 hour drive from Memphis and watched a lot of wrestling on TV because there was nothing else on that time Saturdays. I didn’t know anyone else outside of the region even knew who the hell Lance was.

This tribute is not complete without the great parking lot brawl between Lawler and Eddie Gilbert. Lance’s “I’ve got a little surprise for you” is gold.

Same here, every Saturday. A big part of our childhood is gone, what a great performer and I’ve always heard he was an even greater person.

Like a lot of folks, I imagine, my favorite Lance memory comes from the Lawler/Funk Empty Arena match when he’s wondering if it’s even going to take place. He casually lights up a smoke while going over a contingency plan with his cameraman. Just a little bit of realism to set the scene for a stipulation that had to…

Thanks David...I grew up in NE Arkansas (25 miles from Memphis) watching Lance, Dave, Jerry Lawler, Jackie Fargo, etc.....it is so cool to see someone who is NOT from the Mid-South write such a tremendous tribute to an announcer than most wrestling fans may have known about...Lance Russell was a great announcer, play…

I grew up outside of Louisville and watched every Saturday morning as a kid (early to late 80s). They wrestled every Tuesday night in Louisville Gardens, and would draw a strong 5-7 thousand EVERY week, and I could usually bug my Dad to take me a few times a year (but Dad ... Bam Bam Bigelow is rasslin’ The King for…

There was a book that came out some years ago, It Came From Memphis, about the scene and how it intertwined with music, culture, and the Memphis Mafia-era Elvis. Great read.

Great article. With apologies to Kathy Bates, Lance may have been the best actor to ever grace Memphis.

To be fair, the match did highlight Braun’s current limitations in a normal wrestling match and how much difficulties he had adjusting to situations. So there are valid criticisms towards Braun here.

I think of it like this.

Braun probably noticed that Brock wasn’t really himself rather early, just like the clip shows. However, Brock’s the veteran, and he’s the one calling the match, so that put Braun in an awkward spot: either he takes control of the match, and risk pissing off Brock and Vince, or he continues to…

You know they say that all men are created equal, but you look at Steiner, and you look at Brock Lesnar and you can see that statement is not true. See, normally if you go one on one with another wrestler, you got a 50/50 chance of winning. But Big Poppa Pump is a genetic freak and he is NOT normal! So Lesnar has a…

The best was when he “won” Stacy’s managerial services at Bad Blood and immediately yapped in a promo how he was gonna fuck her all night and that unlike Test, Scott had “tasted the sweet nectar of a woman’s juices”

Braun has had great matches several times this year, especially with Big Show, who prior to the first match in February everyone had been making jokes about and asking to retire.

Because Meltzer is dedicated to jumping over every shark in the sea in 2017

This is how bad shit has gotten.

I truly never thought there would be a day where I reminisced somewhat fondly over the Dubya era...I still can’t stand him and hate the second Iraq war he started but damn....

Dubya was an idiot, but he was OUR idiot. He respected the office and never once showed that he took vicious glee in his fuck ups, or that he planned his fuck ups because he intended them from the get go. He’s also turned into a respectable statesman and there’s no chance Trump will do anything but go downhill. I…

Hell, Dubya was an okay guy. Remember how he always spoke out against Islamophobia and he said Muslim Americans had every right to practice Islam living in the USA? Jesus.. I long for those days.